Drapery pleat forming assembly



g- 15, 1957 s. WEISBERG DRAPERY PLEAT FORMING ASSEMBLY 7 Filed March 10, 1965 INVENTOR. dypA/cy Masvsae; "WWW United States Patent York Filed Mar. 10, 1965, Ser. No. 438,546 2 Claims. (Cl. 160-348) This invention relates to drapery hardware and specifically to assemblies for imparting a pleated appearance to the heading of curtains or the like.

Where it is desired to pleat a curtain, drapery or the like it has been the custom to sew various pleats into the heading of the material. In certain types of headings, stiff tubular inserts of buckram or the like have been incorporated for ornamental effects. In addition, to the time required to sew such headings, it is Often necessary to remove the inserts and much of the stitching when the curtain or drape is to be cleaned.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an assembly which will form a pleated curtain or drape without additional sewing.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a drapery pleating device which may be applied in a minimum of time.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a drapery pleating device having a minimum number of parts.

An object of the present invention is to provide a drapery pleating device which will have the same ap pearance as sewn pleats.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a drapery pleating device which can be removed quickly from the drapery for cleaning and storing purposes.

A feature of the present invention is its use of a rigid core member which is completely hidden from view within the finished pleat.

Another feature of the present invention is its use of a hold-down clip to conceal the entire drapery pleating device.

A further feature of the present invention is its use of simple, easily applied elements to form the pleat.

The invention consists of the construction, combination and arrangement of parts, as herein illustrated, described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof is illustrated one form of embodiment of the invention, in which drawing similar reference characters designate corresponding parts, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded view partly broken away of a complete embodiment of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a somewhat isometric view of the drapery pleating device shown in FIGURE 1, partly assembled.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the assembly shown in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a somewhat isometric view of the completely assembled draping pleating device.

FIGURE 5 is a top plan view of the assembly shown in FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a view taken on line 66 in FIGURE 4, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to FIG- URES 1, 2 and 3, 10 indicates a portion of the upper edge of a length of drapery material. The material 10 is wrapped around a tubular core member 11 in the manner indicated by the dashed lines. The core member 11 is formed of some suitably rigid material such as nylon, polyethelene, polystyrene or the like and is of a length which will support the entire pleat. A flanged longitudinal rib 13 is formed integral with the tubular core 3,335,786 Patented Aug. 15, 1967 and extends rearwardly of the tubular body portion 12 thereof.

The rib 13 is undercut as indicated at 14 for its entire length on both sides thereof and is provided with a longitudinal groove 15 on the rear surface 16. The undercut portion 14 of the rib 13 is adapted to receive a somewhat U shaped metal drapery clam-ping pin 17. The clamping pin 17 is slipped over the drapery 10 and into the undercuts 14 in the manner shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, to secure the core 11 to the drapery. The clamping pin 17 is formed with outwardly turned end portions 18 to prevent the pin 17 from damaging the drapery as it is pressed into the undercut portions 14 of the flange 13.

From an examination of the assembly shown in FIG- URES 2 and 3, it will be apparent that the metal clamping pin 17 can be seen at each side of the pleat. In order to hide the clamping pin 17 and give the pleat the appearance of a sewn pleat there is provided a second U shaped clip 19 hereinafter referred to as a hold-down clip.

The hold-down clip 19 is provided with two hook-like members 20 at the free ends thereof. The hooks 20 are of a size which will permit them to engage and overlie the drapery 10 and the core 11 at the top of the assembly as shown in FIGURES 4-6. As the hooks 20 are shipped into place from the rear of the pleat, they carry with them the drapery material 10 folding it back upon itself in the manner shown. The clamping pin 17 is thus concealed by the folded material. The hold-down clip 19 is secured to the assembly by forcing it over the flanged rib 13 until it lies along the recess formed by the clamping pin 17 and the cylindrical body portion 112 of the core 11, as shown in FIGURES 5 and 6.

The hooks 20 also help to keep the core 11 from slipping upwardly out of the drape 10, thereby improving the appearance of the pleat. Since the hooks 20 are located at the top rear of the finished pleat they are almost in visible.

The drapery 10 may be provided with any desired number of spaced pleats by repeating the operations hereinabove set forth. With the drapery fully pleated it can be secured to any of the well known curtain rods 21 by slipping a curtain hook 22 (best shown in FIGURE 1) into the longitudinal groove 15 of the flanged rib 13 in the manner shown in FIGURE 6. The curtain hook 22 is inserted at the bottom portion of the core 11 so that when its rod engaging portion 23 is coupled to the rod 21 the drapery heading will cover the rod 21 in the customary manner. Since the drapery is completely pleated before the curtain hooks are applied, it is possible to handle the drapery and hang it without curtain hooks catching in the drapery material. Each hook can be inserted as the drapery pleat is coupled to the rod.

When it is desired to clean the pleated drapery 10, it is merely necessary to remove the curtain hook 22, snap the hold-down clip 19 off the rib 13 and slide the clamping pin 17 out of the undercut portion of the rib 13. The drapery 10 will then be a fiat, unpleated memher which can be cleaned and ironed with ease.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been provided a drapery pleating assembly which is easy to apply and disassemble and which will nevertheless have the appearance of hand sewed articles.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. A drapery pleat forming device for application to the upper portion of drapery material comprising an elongated tubular core to receive the drapery therearound, a longitudinally disposed flanged rib on said core extend. ing outwardly thereof, said rib being laterally undercut at opposite sides thereof to receive a portion of the drapery, a clamping pin comprising a rod-like member doubled back upon itself securing the drapery material within the undercut portions of the rib, and a hold down clamp comprising a substantially U shaped member applied to the drapery material as it emerges from the clamping pin from the rib side of the assembly and received upon the flanged rib and overlying the clamping pin whereby the drapery material is doubled back upon itself to hide the said clamping pin.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which the free ends of the hold-down clamp are bent back upon themselves to form hooks receivable within the core over the top thereof whereby the clip is secured to the core.

4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,544,516 3/1951 \Valters 160-348 5 2,978,735 4/1961 Petzal 160-348 X 3,037,556 6/1962 Zuckerman et a1. 160348 3,081,819 3/1963 Lydard 160348 DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner. 10 REINALDO MACHADO, Examiner.

P. C. KANNAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A DRAPERY PLEAT FORMING DEVICE FOR APPLICATION TO THE UPPER PORTION OF DRAPERY MATERIAL COMPRISING AN ELONTAGED TUBULAR CORE TO RECEIVE THE DRAPERY THEREAROUND, A LONGITUDINALLY DISPOSED FLANGED RIB ON SAID CORE EXTENDING OUTWARDLY THEREOF, SAID RIB BEING LATERALLY UNDERCUT AT OPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF TO RECEIVE A PORTION OF THE DRAPERY, A CLAMPING PIN COMPRISING A ROD-LIKE MEMBER DOUBLED BACK UPON ITSELF SECURING THE DRAPERY MATERIAL WITHIN THE UNDERCUT PORTIONS OF THE RIB, AND A HOLD DOWN CLAMP COMPRISING A SUBSTANTIALLY U SHAPED MEMBER APPLIED TO THE DRAPERY MATERIAL AS IT EMERGES FROM THE CLAMPING PIN FROM THE RIB SIDE OF THE ASSEMBLY AND RECEIVED 